“To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in
Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:10-11).

This wonderful Scripture expresses a thought that staggers the mind’s ability to
comprehend and appreciate. This Scripture states that the angels in heaven learn
the manifold wisdom of God through seeing what God has accomplished in the
church.

Paul previously expressed his deep feeling of indebtedness to divine grace that
God had given to him and the other apostles and prophets the blessed privilege
of revealing his previously concealed mystery, namely that the Gentiles could be
fellow-heirs of the promises of Christ through the gospel. He was blessed with
the grace of preaching to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
bringing to light to all men that mystery which God had kept secret since the
world began. But now at the end of the ages, God revealed his mystery.

The “principalities and powers in heavenly places” are the various orders of
angels in heaven. The angels see what God accomplished in the church and see
through the church the manifold wisdom of God. The point is not that the church
preaches the manifold wisdom of God when it preaches the gospel, although this
is a true statement; rather, the church manifests the wisdom of God in the same
manner as a beautiful painting manifests the skills of a painter, a bridge
displays the skills of an architect, and a beautiful song displays the skills of
its lyrist and musicians. When the angels see what God has accomplished in the
church, they see the manifold wisdom of God that was concealed throughout the
ages during which his divine plan was coming to fruition. Henry Alford quoted
Stier as saying that to the angels, the church is “the fact of the great
spiritual body, constituted in Christ, which they contemplate, and which is to
them the theatron tes doxas tou Theou” (theater of the glory of God, mw) (The
Greek Testament: Ephesians III:106). H.A.W. Meyer said, “To the angels, in
accordance with their ministering interest in the work of redemption (Matt.
xviii.10; Luke xv.7, 10; 1 Cor. xi.10; Heb. i.14; 1 Pet. i.12), the church of
the redeemed is therefore, as it were, the mirror, by means of which the wisdom
of God exhibits itself to them” (Meyer’s Commentary on the New Testament:
Ephesians 416).

That the angels witness what occurs on earth is confirmed in other Scriptures (1
Pet. 1:12; 1 Cor. 4:9; Heb. 12:22). This passages says that their own knowledge
of God’s divine wisdom is enhanced by what they see in the church.

Here are some things that angels saw that impressed them with God’s divine
wisdom.

They saw how God saves men. How could God
save sinful men without losing his divine justice? The angels witnessed a truly
remarkable scene when they saw God the Son leave heaven and take upon himself a
physical body in the incarnation. They witnessed his sinless life, despite the
most assiduous assaults of Satan (Heb. 4:15). At the end of his life, this
sinless man was crucified on the cross of Calvary, shedding his blood in
atonement for sin. The just debt of sin was paid by the blood of God the Son.
W.A. Criswell observed, “At the same time He pays the penalty for our sin thus
upholding the righteous judgments of God and yet showing mercy, dying in love
for our fallen souls. How the angels, looking upon that, must have been
astonished! What we lost in Eden in the sin of the first Adam, we have gained
and more besides in the second Adam, Christ. . . . Satan is stung by his own
venom. Goliath is slain by his own sword. Death is destroyed by its own captive.
As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. As by one man,
Adam, sin came into this world, and death by sin, so by one man, the God-man
Christ Jesus, is sin destroyed, and life and immortality brought to life”
(Ephesians: An Exposition 120).

They saw what God can do with sin
defiled men. Every one of us was marred by sin (Rom. 3:23) and worthy of
eternal damnation (Rom. 6:23). If one asked any member of the church, he would
confess that his sinful conduct made him unworthy of eternal life or unfit to be
used in God’s service. H.C.G. Moule commented on what the angels see in us:
“They see in us indeed all our weakness, and all our sin. But they see a nature
which, wrecked by itself, was yet made in the image of their God and ours. And
they see this God at work upon that wreck to produce results not only wonderful
in themselves but doubly wonderful because of the conditions” (Ephesian Studies
118). Think of what change was wrought in sinful men. Angels saw fornicators,
adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards and revilers
changed into saints (1 Cor. 6:9-11). They saw the “chiefest of sinners” turned
into an apostle (1 Tim. 1:13-16).

They saw Jew and Gentile
reconciled to God in one body. Paul had declared that God “might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Eph.
2:16). S.D.F. Salmond observed, “The Church, therefore, that is, as is evidently
meant here, the whole body of believes in the unity in which Jew and Gentile are
now made one, is the means by which the Divine wisdom is to be made known and
Paul’s commission in that respect made good” (The Expositor’s Greek Testament:
Ephesians 309). The wall of alienation that had separated Jew and Gentile was
broken down so that God could redeem all men in one church.

They saw the manifold wisdom of
God in other facets of the church. S.T. Bloomfield observes that God’s
manifold wisdom being made known through the church includes “the founding,
propagating, and governing of the Church” (The Greek Testament II:271).

The founding of the church is an event worthy of a complete
study. The Old Testament prophets foretold when the church would be established
(Dan. 2:44, in the days of the fourth world kingdom [the Roman]), where it would
be established (Isa. 2:1-4, Jerusalem), and by whom it would be established (the
Messiah). When the gospel of Mark opens, it announces that the “time is
fulfilled and the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mark 1:16-17). Jesus announced
that the kingdom is the church (Matt. 16:18-19) and that it would be established
within the lifetime of those who heard him speak (Mark 9:1). The kingdom would
come with power, which power would come when the Holy Spirit fell on the
apostles (Mark 9:1; Acts 1:8). All of these things occurred on the day of
Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ. The Holy Spirit came upon the
apostles and they spoke with new tongues (“as the Holy Spirit gave them
utterance”). A sound like the rushing of a mighty wind drew together a massive
crowd (Acts 2:1-4). Peter preached that these events were the fulfillment of
divine prophecy (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21) and proceeded to tell the audience
how they could be saved by “calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 2:21).Three
thousand responded to the gospel that day and were added to the church (Acts
2:47). The angels in heaven, like mortal men on earth, must have been amazed at
the manifold wisdom of God when the church was established.

The propagating of the faith was also a display of the manifold wisdom of God.
Jesus chose twelve men to take the gospel into all of the world. These men were
without the formal training that rabbis generally received (Acts 4:13). Yet,
Christ sent them into all the world to preach the gospel, working with them
through signs and wonders (Mark 16:15-20). The number of the disciples began
with 3000 on Pentecost, grew to 5000 in a short time (Acts 4:4), and was soon so
large it was only described as “multitudes” (Acts 5:14). A persecution broke out
against the disciples at the death of Stephen that drove out of Jerusalem all of
the disciples except the apostles (Acts 8:4). In the providence of God, this
persecution contributed to the spread of the gospel throughout the world, for
they “went every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). The angels in heaven,
like mortal men on earth, must have been amazed at the manifold wisdom of God
when they saw how the gospel was spread to all nations of the world within one
short lifetime.

The governing of the church was also a display of the manifold wisdom of God.
Each local church was organized independently of all others (Acts 14:23; 20:28;
1 Pet. 5:1-3). Local churches were overseen by a plurality of elders (Phil. 1:1)
whose qualifications were revealed by the Holy Spirit (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit.
1:5-9). Special servants of the church, known as deacons, were appointed to do
special works (Acts 6:1-7; Phil. 1:1) and their qualifications were also
revealed by God (1 Tim. 3:8-13). The simplicity of the divine government of the
church prevented wholesale apostasy. The apostasy of one local church does not
destroy other local churches by necessity, as would be the case if there were
inter-congregational government. The angels in heaven, like mortal men on earth,
must have been amazed at the manifold wisdom of God in how he governed the local
churches.

I suggest that the manifold wisdom of God is also seen in others aspects of the
church, including its worship, its moral purity, its universality, its
consummation, etc. Like a diamond that is turned in the light so that each facet
can glisten, the various things about the church reflect the multi-faceted
wisdom of God. If the angels praise divine wisdom and glorify him when they see
the church, how much more such mortal man!

Conclusion
How sad is the circumstance that some gospel preachers have reached the
conclusion that preaching the church is somehow “preaching ourselves” and
emphasizing the identifying marks of the divinely revealed church is preaching
“sectarianism” and somehow denigrating to Christ! Paul said that when the angels
behold what God has done through the church they see the manifold wisdom of God,
but some among us say that preaching what God has done in the church somehow
detracts from the glory of God. How can one explain this significant difference
of opinion about the church?

When men outgrow preaching about the divinely revealed church, they have moved
away from preaching the whole counsel of God simply because the church is a part
of the divine purpose in Christ Jesus (Eph. 3:11). May we ever appreciate the
importance of the church which was planned in the mind of God as a part of his
eternal purpose, built by the Lord Jesus Christ, established on Pentecost, and
will be delivered up to the Father at the Lord Jesus’ second coming (1 Cor.
15:24). It is a glorious church, having been sanctified and cleansed by the
washing of water by the word so that it might be without a spot or wrinkle, but
that it might be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:26-27). Who can refrain from
telling others about what God has done in and for his church, which is “the
fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23).